The Global Steadfastness flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip enters the extreme danger zone

The global Steadfastness Flotilla, designed to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, announced early Wednesday that it had entered a high-risk zone, as it approached the coast of the Strip.

The fleet stated on X, that it’s on “high alert”.

The post said: “Drone activity is increasing over the fleet, and several reports indicate that various scenarios will emerge in the coming hours”.

The post added, “We’ve now entered a high-risk area… An area where previous fleets have been attacked or intercepted… Remain vigilant”.

In turn, Wael Nawar, a spokesperson for the flotilla, explained in a post on Instagram that they were now only 155 nautical miles away from reaching Gaza.

He said: “We entered the red zone 6 miles ago, and the monitoring ships, including the relief ship and the Italian frigate, withdrew”.

A Spanish warship and an Italian frigate were escorting the global Resilience Fleet after it was subjected to several attacks.

“The number of drones flying over our ships has doubled, and internet and radio jamming has become more intense than usual,” Nawar added, stressing that everyone was prepared for the moment of protest.

For his part, Turkish activist Muhammad Salih, aboard the Adagio ship, indicated in a video he posted on his social media account that an Israeli naval vessel was spotted 80 kilometers (50 miles) away from the flotilla.

He added, “We’re expecting an Israeli interception or attack this evening or tomorrow night, and it will most likely happen tonight,” stressing that they are on high alert, and everyone has put on life jackets and is ready on board the ship.

On Tuesday, the global Steadfastness Flotilla, a flotilla dedicated to breaking the Israeli blockade, announced via Facebook that it was now only about 370 kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

International organizations, including Amnesty International, also called for protection for the Steadfastness Flotilla, while the United Nations affirmed that any attack on it was unacceptable.

Also, on Tuesday, the official Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that more than 50 ships from the flotilla approached the Gaza coast, and that Israel was continuing its preparations to intercept them.

Israel, the occupying power in Palestine, has previously carried out piracy against ships bound for Gaza, seizing them and deporting the activists on board.

This is the first time that dozens of ships have sailed together toward Gaza, home to approximately 2.4 million Palestinians, in a collective attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Strip.

Israel has been besieging the Gaza Strip for 18 years, and about 1.5 million Palestinians out of a population of about 2.4 million in the Strip have become homeless after the war of extermination destroyed their homes.

On March 2, it tightened the blockade by closing all crossings into Gaza, preventing any food, medicine, or humanitarian aid from entering the Strip, plunging the Strip into famine despite the backlog of aid trucks at its borders.

Sometimes, Israel allows very limited aid into the country, which fails to meet the minimum needs of the starving and doesn’t end the famine, especially since most trucks are robbed by gangs that the Gaza government claims Israel protects.

The fleet said in a brief statement tonight, “The Italian Foreign Ministry informed us that the frigate accompanying the fleet will ask the participants to return”.

The statement added, “What Italy is doing isn’t protection, but sabotage and an attempt to thwart the mission”.

He said that Italy was acting as a tool in Israel’s hands instead of protecting the volunteers.

He stressed that the participants are fully aware of the dangers and won’t back down from breaking the siege.

The Italian Ministry of Defense announced that the frigate it sent to escort the Global Steadfastness Flotilla to break the siege on the Gaza Strip will withdraw when the flotilla reaches a distance of 150 nautical miles (278 kilometers) from the coast.

For her part, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Tuesday that the humanitarian flotilla heading to Gaza must stop to allow an agreement to be reached between the two parties to the conflict in the devastated Strip.

Meloni said in a statement that “the Middle East peace plan proposed by US President Donald Trump offers hope for an agreement to end the war and the suffering of Palestinian civilians and establish stability in the region”.

She considered that this hope is based on a fragile balance that many would be happy to undermine.

Meloni, who is ideologically close to Donald Trump, added, “I am particularly concerned that the flotilla’s attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade (of Gaza) will be used as a pretext”.

“For this reason, I believe the fleet should stop now and accept one of the many proposals made to safely divert the aid,” she said.

Meloni concluded that any other option could become a pretext for preventing peace, fueling the conflict, and subsequently harming the people of Gaza, whom the ‘purpose’ is said to be providing aid to.